Looking Forward

My fourth flight in nine days and I'm back in Carcassonne. OK, so my global footprint isn't exactly neutral - in fact it's probably huge. But I figure I'll start saving the planet when the USA decide to get in on the act - as I see it, until they join in, we are all buggered anyway and even when they do it will probably be too late.

It hasn't been a great week on the work front. Late on Friday I found out that the bank were not going to support the immediate cash needs of the business which is a real pain in the arse because it means we will have to find an alternative grant or loan or go for a third round of funding and dilute the shareholding of the business even further. More immediate is the fact that I won't be paid this month end and that is something I absolutely cannot afford - so I am pretty pissed off about the whole thing. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so honest and ethical - as Finance Director I have to advise the Company that until funding is secured we can't pay ourselves when actually that is the last thing I need on a personal level. It feels like I am shooting myself in the foot with a double-barrelled shotgun.

I thought that I might catch the end of the 'Fete du Vin' but they packed up and went home last night so I missed it entirely this year. Like I said, it hasn't been a great week.

Anyway, enough with the negative vibes.

The Languedoc looked superb when I flew in and landed today. The vines are all in their Autumn colours and the Pyrenees looked majestic with the first smatterings of snow on the very topmost peaks. The sun shone out of a cloudless sky and lit up the river and canal with a firework display of shimmering sparklers on the surface as we flew overhead.

Thankfully, Chris, my South African builder, didn't rub in the painful Rugby World Cup final defeat last night too much and, tomorrow, the Polish plasterers should arrive which will launch the final phase of the long running renovation work. I really can't wait for all to be completed - it feels as if it has been going on forever.

So, no point worrying about how to pay for it or sitting around waiting for the ice caps to melt - might as well just get on with it.